


Let Loose and Dance

by Pas_Cal



Series: Gallantry of Gilbert [4]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 16:17:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8539891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pas_Cal/pseuds/Pas_Cal
Summary: Canada finds out Prussia's much more eccentric than he originally thought when he comes home to find his entire attic upended into his living room.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published Oct 9, 2011 on FF.net

The boxes are everywhere.

Canada finds this out the hard way when he first steps into his house. After closing the door and turning around to head toward the living room, his foot catches on one of them and he ends up tumbling to the ground with a very unmanly squeal. It seems an avalanche starts and in a matter of seconds, he's completely buried.

Canada blinks slowly from his place on the ground now. A corner of a box is digging rather painfully into his stomach, but he doesn't pay it any mind because he's hurting in many other places as well. Instead he tries to shift, only to find it near impossible.

Now Canada's not typically one to point fingers, but he knows Kumajirou doesn't have the opposable thumbs necessary to lug what seems like the entire attic downstairs. The only other person who _is_ capable of completing such a task, however, has been living with him for several months now ( going on four to be exact).

"Gilbert!" Canada's voice is muffled, mostly because he hardly raises his voice in the first place, but he knows he's heard. Prussia, despite all his years on the battlefield surrounded by gunfire and explosions, has impeccable hearing.

In a matter of seconds there are loud footfalls approaching, and Canada feels the point of the box on his stomach lift away.

"Shit! Mattie, you okay?" Prussia pulls a few more boxes away as Canada struggles to his feet. He offers a hand for the blonde to take, and helps hoist him up out of the mess. Almost instantly, the Albino is patting him down, looking for bruises, fractures, broken bones. Anything really.

"I'm fine," Canada says rather weakly, and waves Prussia's hands away, "But what about my house?" The blonde looks around, feeling something akin to anger and frustration bubble up in his chest. But it doesn't get farther than that. "Gilbert, what the hell did you do…?" The harsh look he sends to the albino is rather unsettling, and for the briefest of moments, Prussia looks a little sheepish.

But it doesn't last long, and soon Prussia is grinning crookedly from ear to ear. "Records." He says, grabbing Canada by the wrist before he drags him into the living room.

Even though it's a short walk, the boxes strewn across the room make it difficult to maneuver around. Canada's not entirely sure he even remembers having so many boxes in his attic, but he quickly shakes the thought away as he registers just what Prussia has said.

"Records?" He repeats.

"Vinyl records." Prussia says jubilantly as he releases Canada's wrist. Canada simply stares as Prussia crouches in front of a box labeled "40's". Inside is a mixture of different trinkets from the decade, including music records.

"I don't think I'm following you…" Canada glances toward his couch, thoroughly disappointed when he found it to be taken over with more boxes. A quick look over at the recliner assures that he won't be able to sit there either. Kumajirou has made a bed out of it with Gilbird perched between his ears.

"Y'know how I get bored really easily?" Prussia starts, and Canada thinks that it's a horrid understatement. If something doesn't capture Gilbert's interest for longer than five seconds, he immediately becomes bored with it. It happens a lot more often than either of them are willing to admit. "Well I decided I'd go lookin' for music. Old music. The stuff I can dance to."

Canada seems to do a double take, "You dance…?" He says rather incredulously.

"Every European nation knows how to dance, dummkopf. Even West!" Prussia plops down on his bottom and starts flipping through the various records in front of him. Canada really wants to sit down as well. After all he had just gotten home from work and it was rather routine for him to lie down for at least five or ten minutes to relax. But the boxes offer no room for such, so instead he opts to plop down behind Prussia. He rests his chin on the albino's shoulder, blue-violet gaze sliding over the different titles of the records held in Prussia's hands.

Prussia doesn't seem to mind it when Canada wheedles his arms around his chest. As Prussia isn't typically the kind of guy who likes _receiving_ close contact ( he's more of the type to give it ), Canada gives a little victory dance in his head.

"Matter of fact, he learned to dance from my illustrious self." Prussia went on haughtily, but Canada has learned to ignore the self-appraised comments that Prussia spews out seemingly non-stop.

"I can't see you dancing." Canada says after his mental jig is over. "To anything." He adds after a few moments.

Prussia is silent for a bit, and Canada can feel that he's chewing at the inside of his cheek because their faces are that close. Prussia purses his lips, and then finally responds, "I ballroom dance." His voice has such a serious tone that Canada's actually afraid to laugh like he wants to. The mere thought of Prussia waltzing around in a fancy tuxedo is…well it's just hard to imagine at all really.

Instead, Canada settles on a rather lame "Oh…", only relinquishing the lightest upward twitch of his lips.

"What about you?" Prussia tilts his head a bit so his ruby gaze catches with Canada's. The look he receives ( or rather…the lack thereof as Canada had turned his face away ) is more than sufficient for an answer. "No way…"

"Papa never got around to teaching me…" Canada mumbles, and he really can't help but feel embarrassed. It's worse when he can feel Prussia's piercing gaze on him.

Of course, it doesn't help that they're literally inches ( maybe even less ) apart.

"And Eyebrows?"

"Never really cared enough to."

Prussia frowns heavily as Canada gives a bit of a nonchalant shrug. The albino gives another utterance of "no way" and Canada simply gives him an exasperated look.

The records are suddenly dumped back into the box as Prussia turns around. Canada lets out a squeak when he feels hands grip tightly at either of his arms and then Prussia's face appear near millimeters from him.

"I'm teaching you." Prussia declares, and his face is suddenly split by his characteristic smirk. Canada isn't quite sure if he should be thrilled or not.

He decides to remain cautiously optimistic...

* * *

When Canada gets home from work that Friday (two days after finding an army of boxes in his foyer), the house is completely clean. Prussia, though he has lazy tendencies, is still German and thus has the same work ethic. Canada's almost positive that the albino likes cleaning more than Germany himself.

But it's not so much the spotlessness of the house that takes him by surprise, but the music drifting from the office. Canada frowns when he recognizes the smooth voice of Frank Sinatra singing out about women and race horses.

He tosses his keys into the small bowl on the counter and shrugs off his suit jacket. After hanging it up, he makes his way to the office.

When Canada pushes the door open, any query of what Prussia was up to quickly dies on his lips. Not so much from shock, but…honestly the sight before him was just…strange. But Canada supposes strange is an accurate word to describe Prussia as a whole, so the surprise doesn't last long.

Canada has walked in on Prussia dancing with Kumajirou. The albino has the bear in his arms; one hand wrapped around one of it's paws as he holds it away from them. The other arm is tucked under Kuma's bottom, holding him steady so that the ball of fur won't tumble to the ground with every little twirl or dip that Prussia executes.

" _Who's got the action~ Who'll take a chance on love~_ " Prussia sings out word for word. His singing wasn't near as smooth and beautiful as Sinatra's ( probably because Gilbert used to be a rather heavy smoker ), but Canada finds it rather endearing all the same.

" _Who's got a kiss for me~_?" At this, Kumajirou pipes in with a query of "Who? Who?" and Prussia only laughs as he swings his hips back and forth with the beat.

" _Give me one and ya get back three~_ "

Canada can't help but laugh aloud this time, and when the sound meets Prussia's ears, the albino halts almost immediately, facing away from the blonde. Kumajirou manages to stick his head over Prussia's shoulder and mumbles out a light "Who are you?" before Prussia turns around.

"So not cool, Matt. Sneakin' up on the awesome me like that." He huffs. Canada arches a brow, although he is grinning quite widely despite himself.

"Oh? I think if I had walked in any later I'd have found myself a cheater." Canada chuckles and steps into the room a bit further. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his pants, however he quickly brings one back up a few moments later to loosen his tie.

"What can I say? Kuma understands me in a way you never could." Prussia says arrogantly, and turns his face slightly to press it into the silky white fur. Kumajirou doesn't seem to like that, and he wriggles a bit. Canada watches with great amusement as the bear turns his beady black gaze to Prussia and tilts his head a bit.

"Who are you again…?"

Silence.

"Fuck you, Bear." Prussia scowls and sets Kumajirou down. The forgetful thing lumbers out of the office without a second glance, even as Canada erupts into ( quiet ) laughter. "He was a shitty dance partner anyway." Prussia folds his arms across his chest and huffs.

"Oh I'm sure." Canada finally seems to calm down after a few moments, and his gaze shifts over toward the record player and the vinyl disc now spinning idly. Prussia seems to have finally noticed that Sinatra is no longer singing, so he ambles over to the record player and pops the disc out. "You…actually like jazz music…?" Canada asks as the record is resleeved and set aside with a stack of others. Canada assumes that those are the ones Prussia has listened to while he was out, since there's a second stack on the other side of the player.

"Yeah?" Prussia looks over his shoulder at Canada, with a look that clearly says "Is there something wrong with that?"

Canada can't believe it however. Prussia is pulling another record out from its sleeve and setting up the player again. "The same guy who blasts Rammstein at full volume and rocks out to Arthur's punk bands likes classical jazz…?"

Prussia gets as far as setting the stylus down into the groove of the record, but he doesn't start playing it quite yet. He turns around, hands on his hips as he cocks a pale brow at his protégé. "You seem to doubt that I have any experience with anything." Prussia says rather slowly, although he looks quite amused. "First you say I don't look the dancing type, and then that I'm not the kinda guy who likes jazz."

Canada blinks.

Prussia raises a hand, pointer finger outstretched. "What you don't realize, _Kid_ ," Canada frowns a bit at that, "is that I grew up surrounded by this kinda stuff. Big fancy parties hosted by the elite, frilly outfits, private orchestras. All that. I even know how to play an instrument or three, although it's been decades since I've ever really bothered to pick one up…" He waves his hand rather flippantly and then swiftly reaches behind him to flip a switch on the player. Instantly, a steady stream of what sounds like a waltz starts to play. Canada is taken aback by the tune, but even more so when Prussia is suddenly right in front of him.

He first feels the warm hand on his side. Canada stiffens instinctively as Prussia flattens out his palm and slides it to the small of his back. Prussia then takes a hold of Canada's right hand, and holds it up and away from them.

"G-Gilbert, I don't—"

"Just follow my lead." Prussia assures, motioning with a dip of his head for Canada to put his free hand up on his shoulder. Canada does so, and immediately Prussia starts off on the downbeat of the song.

Canada has never danced before.

Prussia, on the other hand, looks as if he's the one who _invented_ the pastime with how easily he moves about. Canada stumbles a bit over his own feet, and in a matter of seconds he's blubbering out a slew of apologies because he's almost _positive_ that he has stepped on Prussia's toes more than once. But Prussia takes it with stride, chiding with a light "Just shut the hell up already" and a smirk.

Canada blushes with embarrassment and snaps his jaw closed with a light click. It's then that Prussia finally starts instructing the blonde on just what he's doing wrong.

"You're trying too hard."

Canada shoots him an exasperated look, but Prussia is right. Canada is much too tense and his movements seem more robotic than anything.

"Stop trying to force the movement. Relax a little more and sort of…go with the flow of the music." It's strange the way Prussia is talking. It's not loud and obnoxious like he usually talks, but more even-toned and…handsome. That's the only way Canada can describe it. When Canada looks up from their feet, he finds Prussia's expression to be much more serene as well.

"Uhm…" Is all Canada can get out because he never thought in a million years that Prussia of all people could sound or look like that.

"Relax," Prussia says again, and Canada tries desperately to do so. But he can't. He's too distracted with the sudden change in Prussia's disposition.

"I-I…sorry…It's just…difficult." Canada sputters out. He feels increasingly embarrassed with each step because it's just as clumsy as the last. And it doesn't help that he's noticing more and more how close him and Prussia are.

"Then try closing your eyes and focusing more on the music. You've got the steps right, you're just shit at performing them."

"How eloquently put…" Canada mumbles under his breath, but does as he's told. His blue-violet gaze slips closed.

Briefly, it occurs to him, that keeping his eyes shut with Prussia so close is probably a bad idea. Especially since the Albino is the one leading the dance. But he has at least some trust in the man, so he goes against his better judgment and keeps his eyes shut.

Without seeing anything, Canada can easily focus more on the music and how it lulls elegantly and smoothly. "There," Prussia says, and Canada can hear the smile in his voice, "you're already doing better."

"Really…?" Canada's not sure he should believe him, but he has yet to step on Prussia's feet, so there must be some truth in his words.

"Really," Prussia assures, and tightens the arm around Canada's waist so that they're much closer. The action takes the Blonde off guard, and his eyes snap open when he feels their noses bump together. Prussia seems slightly annoyed. "You were supposed to keep your eyes closed."

"O-oh…I didn't mean to, you just—"

The music is still playing, but the dancing stops all together when Canada is interrupted with a kiss.

He's used to being surprised like that. Prussia has a habit of randomly swooping in for a kiss ( so much so that Canada has his hunches Prussia suffers from a fixation of sorts… ). Canada takes it with stride, tilting his head to the side a bit as his fingers curl into the fabric of Prussia's shirt.

It doesn't end until the music stops playing, and when Prussia pulls away, he's smirking softly.

Canada's not sure as to what to do now. The vinyl record is spinning idly, with nothing but static coming out of the speakers. Prussia still has his arm around Canada's waist, and his other hand holding Canada's securely. But the Albino seems perfectly content to just stand their swaying lazily. He pulls their outstretched arms in, shifting their hold so that his hand his resting on top of Canada's now.

"So…You taught Germany…?" Canada asks rather lamely, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Yeah," Prussia's smirk widens to a grin, and Canada notices for the first time that the corners of his eyes crinkle when he does. "Taught him everything I know."

"You didn't kiss him at the end of his first lesson to, did you?" Canada jokes, lips tugging up into a smile.

"Actually yes." Prussia replies easily, and Canada gapes. "What!" He pulls back slightly. "He tripped and hit the back of his head! So I kissed it better!"

"Th-that's not what I meant and you know it, Gil. Way to give me a heart attack." Canada slumps forward against Prussia slightly. "I thought I was dating a pedophile for a moment there…"

Prussia purses his lips.

"Well…you _are_ a couple centuries younger than me." He states, and Canada slaps him lightly on the back.

"Ass," Canada grumbles, resting his head on Prussia's shoulder.

"Shut it. You love me anyway." Prussia chuckles.

"By some sort of miracle…" But Canada is smiling to himself anyway.

They stand like that for several moments. Prussia presses his face into the crook of Matthew's neck, sighing contentedly. Canada isn't used to Prussia being calm and quiet like this though. It makes him a little uneasy, but he knows Prussia's an unpredictable sort of guy.

So when Prussia suddenly pulls away without warning, Canada just watches amusedly as the Albino goes back over to the record player and sets up another song. It's jazz again, and it's most decidedly more fast paced than the waltz they were just doing.

"Ready for round two?" Prussia asks grinning, and Canada isn't sure if he's more worried about his own sanity, or the well-being of Prussia's feet.


End file.
